Mother's Day Gift 2012

For Mother's Day this year I got a 24 hour get out of jail free card. Just kidding (well, mostly kidding:). My husband gave me 24 hours to myself in a hotel with an onsen nearby. I went with two other girlfriends and we had a blast. It was my first onsen experience. The onsen felt like an amusement park with the common area having a food court to eat at and lots of different shows going on for children. From the common area, you could venture off to the separate baths for men and women, the massage and facial rooms, or the foot baths outside. You also had the option of purchasing a sand bath, where you sit in this pit and they cover you with hot sand, but we all decided that would not feel very relaxing. We started with a massage and it was marvelous. Then we went in to the baths. Going to the onsen confirms you are good friends...no, make that great friends...because you wear your birthday suit. We started in a bath that was 38 degrees C and thought this was not so bad, so we jumped up to 41 degrees. We quickly realized we should not have skipped baths 39 and 40 and worked our way up in temperature. It was relaxing. After cleansing ourselves we went to the foot baths (opting out of the option to have little fish nibble the dead skin off of your feet) and decided to close the day with a facial...heavenly. After cleansing ourselves from head to toe we enjoyed dinner in Odaiba at Bill's and were laying in our beds by 10 with a good novel. My novel was so good I stayed up until midnight reading it. The beauty was I could sleep in as late as I wanted. I only slept in until 8 (must be natural to not sleep any longer than 8), but I laid in bed until 9ish. We had a quick breakfast and I was home at noon. It was a wonderful 24 hours. I missed the little munchkins and the kind man that sent me away, but it was good for my soul to have a true vacation day from any responsibility. I thought though that one day off would cure me and make me a better mama. :) You know, help me not get frustrated so quickly or be more kind at bedtime. But I found I still had moments less than 12 hours of coming home from said vacation day. To be honest, it kind of pained me...wondering what on earth is wrong with me...and then the sweet gentle whisper of grace reminded me it is ok...that I am doing my best...that I have hard days (often more than not)...but that there is grace, mercy, redemption...every second along the way. Every hour I need Thee...